Xander Schauffele On Rory, Olympics, Pinehurst, Travelers, & More

Xander Schauffele spoke to the media ahead of the 2024 Travelers Championship, an event he won in 2022. Xander was asked:

– Your fondest memory from winning here in 2022?
– How would you assess your week at Pinehurst?
– Did you take in any of Sunday’s action as a fan?
– What does it mean to be heading back to the Olympics?
– How much empathy do you have for Rory after Sunday?
– Do you feel your major prep/sharpness carries over to the following week?
– Is it a relief to come to a place where you can make a lot of birdies?
– Can you talk about what it takes to get over the type of disappointment Rory experienced on Sunday?
– How long did it take you to come down from the excitement of Valhalla?

I mean just winning in general is is always a nice memory to to touch back upon in your own brain so it’s just a nice uh coming to Travelers is awesome they do such an amazing job uh you know for for ourselves but caddies and our support team um you know if you look at the range it’s you know we have little little umbrellas uh we have a coffee stand a lounging area um uh there’s the green trucks there with the pizza so it’s it’s such a relaxing week uh coming after the US Open and I think all of us really appreciate that really really kind of a weird week uh I hit the ball the best probably on um Sunday which was nice played well 200 was a good score on that on that property and uh Thursday Friday we we pretty like gritty rounds that I had to play it wasn’t hitting it very good I was missing a lot of Fairways that were supposed to be sort of forgiving and um puted pretty well and then Saturday I I kind of turned it around and then ended up putting horrible so overall I couldn’t really just I couldn’t really get it going um any any at any given point for more than you know six to 12 holes at a time and um nice to finish on a good note playing well on Sunday and uh really just had didn’t really feel like I had a chance to win the tournament at any point kind of just like everyone else you know I got done and um went back to the the rental that I was staying at and turned it on and you know my I think my brother was there uh watching it already so caught a few holes of of of the drama that I was unfolding on there on the Sunday so yeah I mean it was it was a pretty wild um it seemed like it was wild as as a fan I’m sure it was very exciting and for me it was just it was a crazy finish for sure yeah it’s it’s super special uh it’s always an honor to to represent your country in in any you know given given tournament or event so um it was it was a really cool thing I was able to share with my family after winning the gold medal and you know qualifying was my first goal this year it’s it’s a very hard team to qualify for as you guys have seen um on this us side and uh you know that was a really big goal of mine to to get back and um you know really looking forward to competing again yeah I mean as a as a competitor uh you know all of us have have had our highs and lows to to a certain degree and um it’s a it’s a tough spot it for sure is a tough spot and um you know I’m sure him and his team are are discussing what happened and um sometimes you just need step away step away from it all uh and and really try and be as objective as possible uh because you’re very much in the moment there and um obviously didn’t go his way and he’s just you know need some time away to to to figure out what’s going on I think it just depends on on uh High your week goes to be honest you know it’s uh golf’s a weird one you just you play a lot of uh I was actually just talking to this about someone I was in a little bit of denial it seemed like when at the end of the conversation I just I don’t feel super tired just playing Memorial in the US Open but at the same time you know they’re they’re two pretty hot weeks and as you know golf there’s chipping putting driving um so you’re out in the sun pretty much all day uh for two whole weeks and then you’re competing you know four the you know eight of the 14 days that you’re that you’re out on property and um it takes a lot more out of you than you think so I think mentally uh mental decisions are and that’s on your caddy as well CU your caddy is a guy carrying the bag right now next to you you know during all those hours of work you know the 10 to 14 hour days you’re putting in so um that starts to track and so when you get you know you get to a property hopefully you know it and then hopefully you and your caddy are making the right decisions uh during crunch time um I think the most welcome welcoming thing here is is the the hospitality how how nice everyone’s treated and how sort of comfy everything is here um you know our caddies have cury cars this week and you know that’s the extent you know uh Travelers has gone to to to make everyone feel comfortable and I think it’s an awesome thing so um I think just cuz you’re just cuz it’s easy scoring you still have to be precise and you still have to hit really good shots and hit your number um so just because it’s easy scoring doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing to do you still have to be sort of on the button and and focus to do those things it it’s different for everyone uh you know it’s it’s hard to for me to compare uh you know my losses to his losses I’d say his he’s he’s under a bit more of a microscope you know when things are going really well you know people are all over him and unfortunately when things don’t go your way people are all over him so uh you know there’s a there’s a microscope on him on why he didn’t win and things of that nature and he’s going to have to answer those questions at some point and he will because he always does so for me it you know I I wear him pretty hard um but sometimes uh it’s nice to just get back on the horse and and and compete but uh you know like I said everyone handles those situations differently and you know it’s those times where I think you just lean lean on your team and everyone around you that that supports you that whole time to give you that confidence to get back on the horse and and and keep Ching along yeah I woke up happy I mean I feel like I always wake up pretty happy at least I choose to be and uh it was a few days you know I had media Tuesday Wednesday after uh I got back on Monday so I was talking about it for a lot of the day um and I put the trophy in a really nice spot at the rental there so when I’d wake up I’d look at it um and then come Thursday I was practicing and didn’t really think much about it you know a bad shot on the Range was still a bad shot I wasn’t sitting there telling myself I was I was a major champ I was telling myself that I need to get better uh because it just hit a really bad shot so for me I didn’t really you know basing it too long I just I know there’s so much important Golf and I was trying to win a US Open and um that was you know I missed that opportunity so I’m looking on to to to more tournaments here and we have one more major this year so really excited for that one